Dr Feel-Good
by BethSHeartbeat
Summary: Loneliness prompts Zoe to review her matches on the dating website that she'd been using, but are they what they seem?
The nights sat in front of the TV with a glass of wine and the occasional take away were getting increasingly lonely, no longer were soaps a mindless distraction nor the documentaries remotely interesting. Her bed felt cold when she got into it at night, and despite all the heating and blankets she couldn't get the warmth she needed, the warmth that she'd lacked since Max had gone. The laptop in front of her beeped to alert her to the presence of a new email in her inbox, knowing that it would be from Nick Jordan, she sighed a little and ignored it. The idea of leaving was still something that played on her mind, being close to Max without being able to touch him or really even talk to him was something that broke her heart a little more each day. After a few seconds consideration, she picked up the laptop but ignored the email tab that she had open and instead browsed a website with several consultant jobs being advertised. Slowly she scrolled down the page, occasionally clicking on one before realising that it was too far away from where Max was, it wasn't long before she gave up realising that she wasn't getting anywhere.

She'd long since abandoned her laptop and was instead sat watching the news with a take away pizza on the table in front of her. The news continued but served more as background noise as her thoughts seemed to get louder, without really thinking she picked up her phone and found herself back on the dating app that she'd been flicking through every so often. Zoe's mind drifted to earlier in the day, to her conversation with Max, at first all she could think of was how close he'd stood to her and the heartbreak that his words had caused but then she remembered his approval of one of the matches. It seemed unlikely that Max was going to come back to her, but someone who had Max's approval seemed somehow like it was closer to the man she missed than anyone else. The match that he'd claimed to be a 'winner' was now open on her phone and within a moment she'd pressed the like button.

"Max! You left your phone down here again and it just beeped." Jez called up the stairs to his new roommate. "Ooh, internet dating? Looks like you've got a match." He told Max, who now stood in front of him as he handed over the phone.

"Oh erm yeah, don't mention it to Robyn, I want to see how it goes and she'd make it a big deal." Max tried, knowing that Robyn would figure out exactly what he'd done if she found out.

"Yeah of course mate."

Without speaking anymore words, he ran back up to his room and then looked down at his phone.

' _Dr Feel-good confirmed your match, time to start a conversation'_

He didn't stop to think about what he was doing, nor what it meant, as he opened the app and found himself faced with Zoe's face. Part of him felt guilty that he was deceiving her, that he wasn't William, that he wasn't in his 40s and that he wasn't an accountant, but that part of him was easily silenced when he thought about their earlier conversation and the tears that were clearly shining in Zoe's eyes.

 _William- Hello Dr_

For a second Zoe cringed as she saw the message, before she realised that she hadn't given her name on her profile and that the only information was that she was a doctor.

 _Dr Feel-good – Hi William, thanks for the quick message and you can call me Zoe_

 _William- Well then hello Zoe, you look beautiful in your picture_

 _Dr Feel-good – Thank you, so you're an accountant?_

 _William- Yeah, it's a little dull but it pays the bills. So you're a consultant?_

 _Dr Feel-good – Yeah, never a dull day in medicine. What would you rather do if accountancy is boring?_

 _William- I can imagine, I've always assumed that doctors never get a break. I'd rather be a musician, always dreamt of it. I play the guitar and sing, I used to be in a band but never really got anywhere with it._

Max responded, hitting send before he realised that he was sounding increasingly like himself and not like the persona he'd created.

Zoe sighed as she read the response, the guy who'd Max had approved of was turning out to be an older version of Max in many ways and she wasn't sure how she felt about that, but still she continued to reply.

 _Dr Feel-good – Breaks are rare, I usually find I can finish most of my coffee though before I'm called to do something. Music sounds fun, I was taught a chord or two on the guitar but I think my teacher told me I was a lot better than I was._

 _William- I wasn't, you were a natural Zo'_

 _Dr Feel-good – What?_

The message had sent alarm bells ringing in Zoe's head, but Max hadn't realised what he'd said until he'd saw Zoe's response. Knowing that the game was up he put his phone down and instead picked up his car keys.

"I won't be here to make tea, here's £30 and get yourself and Robyn a takeaway." Max spoke quickly as he pulled money out of his wallet and dropped it on Jez.

"You got a date this quickly?"

"Something like that."

It had been ten minutes since Zoe had received the last message from William, and despite her confusion she'd managed to put it to the back of her mind with the help of a large glass of wine. The sounding of the doorbell was what really confused her, it was nearly half ten at night and visitors were rare anyway for her nowadays. Slowly she made her way over to the intercom and upon hearing Max's voice, buzzed him in. Everything slowly began to make sense again as she replayed the nights events again in her head.

"Zoe?" He spoke as he opened to door to the flat, with the flat door key that he hadn't gotten rid of. He watched from the doorway for a second, he saw Zoe bent over the kitchen counter with a glass of wine in front of her.

"You're William." She stated, no questioning in her voice as she finally looked up at him. "Why?" Max moved closer to her so that he was stood the other side of the kitchen counter.

"I don't know, I saw you had the profile last week and something clicked. Despite everything, I don't want you to move on and I couldn't find the words to say that. I was wrong but something made me sign up to the website and make sure we matched, I didn't think you'd listen to me when I told you earlier who I thought you should talk to."

"Of course I listened Max, your opinion matters to me. If I couldn't have you then someone you approved of was second best, I sat there earlier and tried to tell you how sorry I was and you brushed it off."

"I don't want you to apologise anymore, maybe I didn't go about it the right way but I don't want to lose you." Max admitted as he moved around to where she was stood this time, he reached his hands out to take hers.

"You promise you won't change your mind?" She asked as she finally turned to face him, Zoe Hanna was vulnerable and it was showing.

"I promise Zo', we've made a mess but I'd rather we continue to make a mess together than do it apart."

"Take me away. I want to start again Max, start properly away from Holby." Zoe asked, now sure that she wanted to get away but only with Max by her side. For a moment he was taken aback, their whole life was in Holby, but that included all the negatives too.

"We can do that, not right away but we can certainly start planning it." He smiled as she wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder. "I love you Mrs Walker."


End file.
